what action did attorney general robert kennedy finally take to protect the "freedom riders?

What did the Justice Department do to protect the Freedom Riders?

From inside the church, King called Attorney General Kennedy, who assured him that the federal government would protect those inside the church. Kennedy swiftly mobilized federal marshals who used tear gas to keep the mob at bay. Federal marshals were later replaced by the Alabama National Guard, who escorted people out of the church at dawn. As the violence and federal …

What did Robert F Kennedy do for the Freedom Riders?

Jun 02, 2021 · President Kennedy’s strategy was to have the Justice Department take action to enforce laws that were on the books but being ignored. For that, he needed someone he could trust as attorney general.

How did Kennedy respond to the Civil Rights Movement?

Feb 01, 2010 · During the 1947 action, African American and white bus riders tested the 1946 ... U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, ... protection for the new group of …

What happened to the Freedom Riders when they arrived in Alabama?

Jan 18, 2021 · Robert F. Kennedy became Attorney General in January 1961, after his brother John F. Kennedy won election as President of the United States. Robert Kennedy had given a speech expressing the administration’s support of civil rights to a Southern white audience a few days after the start of the Freedom Rides on May 6.

Did Robert Kennedy support the Freedom Riders?

When reports of the bus burning and beatings in Birmingham reached Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), he urged restraint on the part of Freedom Riders. The Kennedys, in fact, had condemned the Freedom Rides as unpatriotic because they embarrassed the nation on the world stage at the height of the Cold War.

How did Kennedy react to the Freedom Riders?

At first, President Kennedy didn't want to interfere. "The Kennedys saw the Freedom Rides as really a no-win situation for them politically," Perry said. "The right wing would accuse them of interference in the South. And the left wing would accuse them of not doing enough to help the cause of civil rights."Nov 25, 2013

What was the final outcome of the Freedom Riders?

The Riders were successful in convincing the Federal Government to enforce federal law for the integration of interstate travel.

How did Robert F Kennedy help Martin Luther King?

Kennedy phoned Coretta Scott King to offer his support and Robert Kennedy then initiated a series of contacts with Ernest Vandiver, governor of Georgia, which eventually led to King's release.

What did President Kennedy do?

Kennedy presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970.

Who attacked the Freedom Riders?

Led by Ku Klux Klan leader William Chapel, a mob of 50 men armed with pipes, chains, and bats, smashed windows, slashed tires, and dented the sides of the Riders' bus.

Was the Freedom Ride successful?

That movement was only moderately successful, but it led to the Freedom Rides of 1961, which forever changed the way Americans traveled between states. The Freedom Rides, which began in May 1961 and ended late that year, were organized by CORE's national director, James Farmer.Jul 18, 2020

How did freedom summer end?

Johnson and Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

What did the Freedom Riders do?

Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern states.

What was the original plan of the Freedom Riders?

Their plan was to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 17 to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ruled that segregation of the nation’s public schools was unconstitutional.

When was the first Greyhound bus?

On May 14, 1961 , the Greyhound bus was the first to arrive in Anniston, Alabama. There, an angry mob of about 200 white people surrounded the bus, causing the driver to continue past the bus station. The mob followed the bus in automobiles, and when the tires on the bus blew out, someone threw a bomb into the bus.

Who was John Lewis?

John Lewis, one of the original group of 13 Freedom Riders, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1986. Lewis, a Democrat, continued to represent Georgia's 5th Congressional District, which includes Atlanta, until his death in 2020.

Where did the Freedom Riders go in 1961?

On May 24, 1961, a group of Freedom Riders departed Montgomery for Jackson, Mississippi. There, several hundred supporters greeted the riders. However, those who attempted to use the whites-only facilities were arrested for trespassing and taken to the maximum-security penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi.

What was the Board of Education decision?

Board of Education decision, which ruled that segregation of the nation’s public schools was unconstitutional. The group traveled through Virginia and North Carolina, drawing little public notice. The first violent incident occurred on May 12 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

What happened to the Freedom Riders?

The violence toward the Freedom Riders was not quelled—rather, the police abandoned the Greyhound bus just before it arrived at the Montgomery, Alabama, terminal, where a white mob attacked the riders with baseball bats and clubs as they disembarked. Attorney General Kennedy sent 600 federal marshals to the city to stop the violence.

What happened to the Freedom Riders?

Several riders were brutally beaten and some were permanently injured, but the rides continued as new students and activists took the place of those forced to drop out because of their injuries.

What is the Freedom Riders documentary?

The PBS documentary Freedom Riders also hosts a brief summary of President Kennedy's role in the early Civil Rights Movement. The site SNCC: 1960-1966 presents the early history of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

What was the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s?

Much of The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s hinged on the relationship between grass roots activists, segregationist state and local governments, and a Federal Government bound (sometimes ambivalently) to uphold the Constitution. These lessons examine this relationship first of all with a look at the Freedom Rides. Student activists from the newly-formed Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the older Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides in 1961, challenging and helping to destroy Jim Crow. By traveling as a racially integrated group on interstate buses through the South, the Freedom Riders sought to confront the Southern state authorities who enforced segregation, and to pressure the Federal Government to implement the Supreme Court ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960) that outlawed segregation in interstate travel.

What year did the Freedom Rides start?

Student activists from the newly-formed Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the older Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides in 1961, challenging and helping to destroy Jim Crow.

What should students take notes on?

Students should take notes on what they read, listing: the actions that the Kennedy Administration took regarding civil rights and the Civil Rights Movement; any criticisms, positive or negative, those participants in the Civil Rights Movement made of the Kennedy Administration or the Federal Government.

What happened to the Freedom Riders?

Upon arriving in South Carolina, some of the riders, including John Lewis, were attacked and beaten. When the Freedom Riders reached Alabama , their bus was fire-bombed, riders were forced to flee into a white mob that surrounded their bus, and were beaten with iron bars.

What did President Kennedy say about civil rights?

President Kennedy defined civil rights as not just a constitutional issue, but also a “moral issue.”.

Why did President Kennedy meet with civil rights leaders?

In order to try and ensure his bill’s passage, President Kennedy met with prominent Civil Rights leaders to discuss the content of the bill. He also met with businessmen, religious leaders, and others to build the bipartisan support the bill would need to pass. The bill struggled to move through Congress.

When did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 become law?

Johnson used his connections and experience gained as former Senate Majority Leader to sucessfuly negotiate support for the bill. On July 2, 1964, a little more than a year after President Kennedy introduced the bill, President Johnson officially signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.

Who was the attorney general of the Civil Rights Movement?

Robert Kennedy sent his Assistant Attorney General, Burke Marshall, to Birmingham to mediate negotiations between the campaign and white southern business leaders.

What is Robert Kennedy's legacy?

Although Senator Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, his legacy continues through the nonprofit, Robert Kennedy for Human Rights. This nonprofit continues the work of Senator Kennedy, advocating for human rights and social justice.

What happened to Martin Luther King Jr.?

On October 19, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with students, was protesting local segregation ordinances in Georgia and was sent to jail for trespassing. King was sentenced to six months ...